Paramount-Warner is looking at The Dark Knight Returns as a two-part event movie, Cosmic Book News has learned.
The version under consideration adapts Frank Miller’s graphic novel straight, with nothing rewritten to fit a shared universe.
“They’re looking at The Dark Knight Returns as a 2-parter, major event, the graphic novel with no changes to accommodate the need for a canon universe,” an insider tells us.
The word comes as the $111 billion Paramount-WBD merger is set to close by early October.
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Frank Miller and Zack Snyder in Los Angeles at Wilshire Ebell Theatre on July 18, 2026
The Graphic Novel With No Changes
For fans, that description means Miller’s 1986 story as written. An older Bruce Wayne comes out of retirement, takes down the Mutants and the Joker, and ends up in the fight with Superman.
No new characters bolted on. No setup for the next movie.
That is also the exact version Zack Snyder has asked for. Two weeks ago, Snyder told Variety he would make The Dark Knight Returns “outside of the DC Universe” since it’s “a novel that just happens to have superheroes in it.”
In August, our insiders said Snyder has the movie storyboarded “as-is,” the same way he approached Watchmen.
The two-part structure has history, too.
Warner Bros. already adapted The Dark Knight Returns as two animated movies in 2012 and 2013, directed by Jay Oliva, Snyder’s longtime storyboard artist.
Oliva was named in our August report along with IMAX.
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Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder
The Model Is The Odyssey And Dune
The two-parter fits the bigger picture our insider laid out for the combined studio.
“The goal for Paramount-Warner is prestige blockbusters like The Odyssey and Dune, so Matt Reeves Batman and Top Gun all fit,” said the insider, who added there are also popcorn movies in the mix “like GI Joe and the Monsterverse.”
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey opened to $264 million worldwide in July, the biggest global debut of his career, and it is still playing in theaters. As we reported, Nolan is a free agent, and Warner Bros. is mending fences.
Dune: Part Three arrives December 18. On the Batman side, insiders have said Ellison is going all in on Matt Reeves, and Reeves just re-upped his Warner Bros. TV deal.
A two-part Dark Knight Returns lands squarely in the prestige column: the most acclaimed Batman book ever made, treated as a filmmaker-driven event.
Man of Steel: Henry Cavill and Zack Snyder
This Has Been Building Since November
Our first report on the SnyderVerse return landed in November.
In July, Snyder sat next to Frank Miller in Los Angeles and said he’d make it “when they let us.”
On September 1, an insider told us Snyder is “well prepared for a Dark Knight film.” Snyder himself said “I put weight on the rumors, because the rumors work.”
Gal Gadot is on record: “If Zack comes back to run DC, I’ll come back.” And insiders have described Snyder doing The Dark Knight Returns first, with Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill.
As for when things move, the insider points past the paperwork: “Once it settles, we’ll see major players developing franchise shows and films.”
The merger closes in days. The two-parter is on the table for what comes next.
From the same insider: De Luca and Abdy are staying at Warner Bros., Casey Bloys is playing competing offers, and Skydance Animation is aiming for 70s/80s Spielberg-Lucas event movies.
Matt McGloin is the editor-in-chief and publisher of Cosmic Book News, the independent entertainment news site he founded in 2008. He covers movies, comics, TV, video games and pop culture and has reported major industry scoops over the years, including revealing the Avengers: Endgame title ahead of its official announcement. Through Cosmic Book News, he helped Marvel Comics promote Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova through exclusive previews, artwork, and interviews, with the site also quoted in solicitations and on comic covers. He also reported on Marvel’s Daredevil: Born Again retooling before it was later confirmed by the trades.